Luís García scores against his old club
Bad spell comes to an end
Thanks to a penalty granted to Espanyol 45 matches since the last one, managed to defeating Mallorca for the first time in ten years
Espanyol left Palma with an excellent and sweet victory after a fully controlled and intense game played with passion. Once more this match proved that being a bit more accurate the score would have been greater. Espanyol played better than Mallorca both with 11 and 10 men on the pitch, especially as all players had to fight to the very last second to avoid the attack of their rivals.
The match started as cold as the day. Both teams studied each other for a short while, marking the several positions on the field for a later display and the initial start was soon forgotten with plenty of coming and going in both boxes.
Espanyol was well positioned on the pitch and managed to cope with the attacks from Mallorca who, in spite of certain changes, they have powerful strikers as well as an excellent midfield. Víctor Ruiz was the first one to head a ball from the corner which was sent away by a defender on the goal line.
The blue and white players performed excellent passes amongst themselves taking advantage of the spaces created by Luis García and Callejón. On the other hand, Cristian had to put extra effort acting as last defender.
Inspiration in the Espanyol attack allowed the team to score after a good action by Luis García who dribbled young Kevin who had to push the Guaje down the pitch for the ref to grant a clear penalty. In total, there have been 45 games without any penalty in our favor. Luis García took advantage to score the final 0-1.
It was only a short happy moment since the ref Iglesias Villanueva showed a direct red card to Osvaldo after a header between him and Crespí. However, Espanyol stayed firm and moved the ball with intelligence and patience, thus they controlled the match in the first half.
Laudrup put on the field all his strikers to win the match, but Espanyol kept going. Even playing with ten men, Espanyol produced a wonderful football performance. The fact of playing with one player less plus all the effort in their legs, did not affect their way of playing. As a matter of fact, the local goalie was Mallorca’s best player as it happened in previous games that the rival’s keeper has been always the best rival player. Especially when he produced a triple saving, even a clearer chance by Baena after an excellent action by Luis García. Alvaro had the best chance but his mild shot was saved by Crespí on added time.
Game stats:
RCD Mallorca: Aouate, Ratinho, Ramis, Nsue (Pereira, min.59), Cavenaghi (Sergi Enric, min.73), Castro, Víctor (Webó, min.59), Marti, De Guzmán, Martí Crespí and Kevin.
RCD Espanyol: C.Álvarez, Chica, D.García, J. Márquez (Raúl Baena, min.74), Víctor Ruiz, Callejón (Álvaro, min.67), Luis García, J.Verdú (Javi López, min.87), Osvaldo, Forlin and Duscher.
Referee: Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva (Galician).
Yellow card: Luis García (min.13), Callejón (min.50), Duscher (min.79), Kevin (min.29), Martí (min.53), Martí Crespí (min.56). Red Card: Osvaldo (min.34).
Goal: 0-1, Luis García (min.31).
Incidence: Before kickoff the players observed one minute silence in honor of Miguel Angel Darder and also Agustín Domínguez, Arteche y Pepín. Espanyol was represented by the president, Daniel Sánchez Llibre, the vice-president, José Luis Perelló, and the directors Enrique Beltran and Joan Josep Bertomeu.
